


Life & Death

by orphan_account



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Felix is still a dick, I can't believe I forgot to include Eta and Iota in the tags, M/M, Minor Character Death, mom friend siris, random FMA reference, the AI are humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-06-05 17:24:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6714013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Apocalyptic worlds suck ass. Especially ones where the dead are eating the living. That's a dick move, zombies. Stay in the ground where you belong. And as for you living people reading this, follow the Reds, Blues, Freelancers, Mercenaries- gay space marines. There. That sums it up. Join them as they try to survive this zombie outbreak, and go through lots of stuff on the way!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Arm & A Leg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, everyone writes a zombie apocalypse AU at some point during their fanfic writing career. It should be no surprise that I'm doing it too.

If you were put in a position where you had to either give up and go out the easy way, or stand up and fight like hell the hard way, which would you choose? Surprisingly, most people choose to fight like hell. And because of that, they make it pretty far. But not without going through some shit. Not without losing a friend, a home, their love, a family member, or for some people, a limb. And if you lose that last one. Well. It hurts like a bitch.  
_____________

"Sarge just do it already!" Grif yelled as Sarge walked over, an axe in hand.  


"Don't you order me around, Grif!" Sarge barked back.  


"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T GET ON WITH IT RIGHT NOW I'LL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU BOTH!" Simmons screamed.  
The other two men both jumped a bit, looking at Simmons. The redhead had a rope tied tightly around his shoulder, to the point where they were sure he couldn't feel it anymore. Their eyes trailed down to his forearm, which had a bite. Puss and blood slowly oozed out of the open wound, and Lopez was already equipped with a ton of bandages for when Sarge finally did what he was supposed to. 

Simmons had been bitten. By what you ask? A zombie. Obviously. And a zombie bite meant that unless you wanna take a shotgun round to the head, you chop off whatever limb or body part had been bitten. This was the second limb poor Simmons would be losing. Along with his soon to be gone left arm, Simmons had lost his left leg. He had been bitten on the leg when he was originally trying to survive by himself. Grif had found him writhing on the ground in pain, and after Simmons had begged him to, he chopped off the tainted limb. The two traveled around with each other for awhile. Simmons had been particularly surprised that the Hawaiian dragged him around for so long. He wasn't even a help at all. Plus, their personalities clashed. Simmons was a perfectionist, while Grif was really lazy. This caused the two to bicker almost constantly. But they secretly developed feelings for one another. The two eventually ended up confessing to each other. And so, the odd couple of Dexter Grif and Richard Simmons became canon. 

The two soon bumped into Sarge and Lopez. Sarge was a veteran in his twenties who always had a shotgun handy. He had met Lopez in an old abandoned shed. Lopez, the mechanic who could fix or make virtually anything, was stuck with Sarge ever since. Despite the fact that the Spanish man disliked his group, he had made an artificial leg for Simmons. It took some getting used to, but he was eventually walking normal again. 

And now he had to get used to a metal arm. 

"Well Grif's the one who chopped your leg off! Have him do it if Sarge doesn't want to!" Donut shouted. 

Donut had met up with the group about a month after Sarge and Lopez joined Grif and Simmons. The four were surprised that Donut had survived so long on his own. Mainly because of his.... personality. They weren't quite sure what to think of Donut at first, but eventually, he became pretty much essential to the group. He was their nurse, or rather, he just helped them with bandages and what not. He was currently letting Simmons lay against him. 

"I don't wanna cut my boyfriend's arm off!" Grif protested.  


"GRIF JUST CUT MY FUCKING ARM OFF." Simmons ordered.  


"OKAY GOD" Grif grabbed the axe from Sarge and made sure the rope was tight around the top of Simmons arm, then in one fell swoop, chopped his arm off. 

Simmons let out a scream of pain before clenching his teeth tightly, his hand balling into a fist. He groaned in pain as blood practically poured from where his arm used to be. Lopez quickly put pressure on it, stopping the bleeding, then bandaged it up as best as he could.

"You okay, Simmons?" Donut asked.  


"Just peachy." Simmons growled sarcastically.  


"Alright, hand him over." Grif picked Simmons up bridal style.  


"Well we better get back to base." Sarge said.  


"Why do you insist on calling it a base?"  


"Because it's our home base! What would you call it?"  


"A safe house."  


"Well it isn't a house, it's got a huge wall around it, and we've filled it with weapons. So I'm calling it a base."  


"Fine, fine. Let's just get back to it."  
_____________

Grif laid Simmons down in their room. He had fallen asleep almost instantly when they got back to their base. He pulled the covers over his boyfriend and walked out and over to Sarge, Lopez and Donut.

"So are we gonna call it a day?" He asked.  


"No! I'm going out again and finding more supplies, and you're coming with me." Sarge said.  


"What? Like hell I am!"  


"Donut and Lopez are going to stay here and keep an eye on Simmons."  


"Don't worry Grif! Lopez and I will make sure Simmons is comfortable!" Donut smiled.  


"Oh god." Grif sighed.  


"Well I'm gonna go start making Simmons' arm." Lopez walked away.  


"What'd he say?"  


"He's gonna go start making Simmons' arm." Donut said.  


"I feel like this is one of the rare moments where you actually know what he's saying."  


Donut shrugged.  
_____________

"Caboose."  


Caboose kept staring.  


"Caboose!"  


He didn't move.  


"CABOOSE!"  


"What?" Caboose looked up from where he was sitting on his knees. He had found a key on the ground, and the shiny object had caught his eye.  


"For the last time, this isn't the kind of place you can be spacing out! You could get eaten, you know." Church huffed, his arms crossed.  


"Oh. Right. Sorry best friend!" Caboose smiled, standing up.  


"Whatever. Let's just get going. Flowers and Tucker already found a place for us to stay the night."  


"Okay!"

The two walked for about fifteen minutes when they found themselves at the front door of a house. The windows were all boarded up, and the door was made of thick metal. Church knocked on the door.  
It opened a bit before opening all the way. 

"Hey guys. What took you so long?" Tucker asked, stepping aside to let them in. They walked in and Tucker shut and locked the door behind them.  


"Caboose got distracted." Church said.  


"Ah."  


"Yeah. Anyway, how'd you guys find this place?"  


"Flowers, Junior and I were just walking around when we found it. The key was under the mat."  


"Wow."  


"I know. Sucks to be whoever lived here before."  


"That's really thick." Caboose said, looking at the door.  


"Bow chicka bow wow."

Church facepalmed. "Whatever. I'm gonna go talk to Flowers." He said and walked away. After looking around the house, Church found Flowers upstairs, looking at something on his phone.  


"Hey Flowers."  


Flowers looked up. "Oh. Hey, Church." He greeted with the cheery smile that seemed to be permanently stuck on his face. How this man maintained a smile that genuine in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, Church would never know.

"So how's your plan to contact your buddies been going?"  


"Horrible, so far. No matter what I do, I just can't get a signal." Flowers sighed.  


"Well that's too bad. Looks like the only things we can use are radios."  


"Mhm."  


"Yeah. So does this place have food?"  


"Loads of it."  


"Awesome. You gonna come downstairs?"  


"In a bit."  


"Alright." He nodded and walked out again.  
_____________

Church, Tucker, Junior and Caboose were all eating when Flowers walked in.  


"Hey Flowers." Tucker said.  


"Hi guys. So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we need to go out again."  


"What?" Church almost shouted.  


"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, so we need to go find some more."  


"Can't a couple of us stay?" Tucker asked.  


"In normal circumstances, I'd say yes. But there's still the chance that whoever really owns this place, might come back. And they might have another key. I don't wanna take any chances."  


"We can handle ourselves."  


"Tucker, I want you to understand this. There's nothing, more important to me, than the safety, and well-being, of my friends. Or my name isn't Butch Flowers."  


"Fine, we'll go."  


"Excellent!"  
_____________

Simmons looked up when Sarge and Grif walked back into base. He was surprised when he saw five other people with them. "Sarge? Grif? Who are these guys?"  


"These are some guys we met while looking around for stuff. Turns out they were looking for ammo, we were looking for food, and well, we decided to just share." Grif said.  


"Say hello to the blue team." Sarge said.  


"Sarge, there aren't teams. Stop calling us red team."  


"We're all wearing shades of red and they're wearing shades of blue."  


"More like 50 shades of blue, am I right?" Tucker grinned.  


"Dear god." Church groaned.  


"That doesn't- you know what? I'm not gonna argue. If you'll excuse me, the oreos are calling to me." He walked away after kissing Simmons on the head.  


"So. Would you like to introduce yourselves?" Sarge looked to the blues.  


"Of course. I'm Butch Flowers." Flowers looked to Simmons with a smile.  


"I'm Church." Church said.  


"I'm Tucker, and this is my kid Junior." Tucker said, patting his son's head. Junior smiled.  


"I'm Caboose!" Caboose nearly shouted.  


"I'm Simmons. Nice to meet you guys." Simmons smiled at them.  


"Hi Simmons! Hey, you have a metal arm and leg!"  


"Yeah."  


"That's kinda like that full armor magic guy!"  


"....Full armor magic guy?"  


"Don't mind Caboose. He can be an idiot most of the time." Tucker said.  


"Shut up Tucker."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaay! New fanfic! By the way, for those of you who didn't get Caboose's full armor magic guy thing, he was trying to say Fullmetal Alchemist. If you don't know what that is, it's an amazing anime. WATCH IT.


	2. The Medic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group goes looking around for more supplies. Sure, they find all that stuff, but they also find something they weren't expecting.

Simmons woke up the usual way. With Grif wrapped around him like a blanket. His boyfriend's arms were wrapped firmly around his waist, while his legs were wrapped around his own. He yawned, stretching out as best he could with his lazy ass boyfriend hanging onto him like a freaking koala. 

After about ten minutes of just sitting there staring at the ceiling, he finally decided to get up. Somehow escaping Grif's vice-like koala hug, he got out of bed and went to the kitchen where one of the new guys, - Church, maybe? - was drinking some coffee. 

"Well it looks like I'm not the only one up." Church looked at him, taking a sip of his coffee.  


"Yup. Church, right?" Simmons asked, walking to the fridge.  


"Mhm."  


"Cool. So uh. How're you guys liking it here so far?" He asked as he went to the cupboard and grabbed one of Grif's 'hidden' poptarts. He was pretty good at finding Grif's food. Though he could never find the Oreo stash. Grif's top priority was hiding those.  


"Well it was nice not having to sleep with the possibility of imminent death hanging over my head."  


"Ah. Well why are you up so early then?"  


"I've never been able to sleep long."  


"Well it may be just a guess, but maybe you have insomnia or something."  


"I do. Since I was a kid."  


"Damn."  


"Yup. It's a bitch. Last time I slept like a baby, was well. When I was a fucking baby."  


"Wow. Didn't you try getting help? Like meds or something?"  


"Parents didn't want to." He drank some more.  


"Oh. Well how often do you drink coffee?"  


"A crap ton of it a day."  


"That's probably contributing to it."  


"What?"  


"Well studies have shown that drinking coffee 5 to 6 hours or so before you sleep can make you restless."  


"And who conducted these studies?"  


"I dunno."  


"Exactly. Besides. I don't wanna get too comfy. We're still in the middle of a zombie apocalypse."  


"I guess you have a point."  


"I do. And I might as well drink coffee to keep myself up since I have to deal with--"  


"Good morning best friend!" Caboose walked in.  


"--Caboose."

Simmons ate his breakfast, watching as Church let Caboose talk his ear off, sighing irritably every now and then. Simmons smiled a bit. He knew the look Church had on his face. It was the exact face he made when he and Grif argued back before they started dating. Standing up and stretching again, he walked out.  
_____________

Sarge was walking around the wall, about to head inside when he saw Flowers. He raised an eyebrow before walking over to the man who was holding a photo in his hands with a sad look on his face.  
"Whatcha got there, Flowers?" Sarge asked.  


"Wha- Oh, Sarge! Didn't notice you there!" Flowers said, instantly replacing the smile on his face. Sarge wondered if that smile he always had stuck on his face was fake, too.  


"Would you like to answer my question?"  


"Oh. Uh, it's nothing." He lied, putting the photo in his pocket and standing up.  


Sarge narrowed his eyes. "Alright."  


Flowers could tell that Sarge wanted to press further. "Yes, well, I've got to uh. Go wake Tucker up! Bye!" He waved and speed walked away.

Sarge watched him go with a suspicious look on his face.  
_____________

Tucker yawned, stretching out. Flowers had walked in, told him to wake up, and walked away. Which wasn't the usual wake up call, but he didn't really care. He gently shook Junior. "Hey kiddo. Time to wake up."  


"Five more minutes...." Junior mumbled, hugging his pillow.  


"Alright, alright." He ruffled his son's hair and walked out, shutting the door.

He went to the kitchen, finding Church in the usual predicament. Caboose was talking and talking, and Church had finally accepted his fate and decided trying to drown himself in his coffee mug. Obviously that plan failed. 

With a long groan of annoyance, Church slammed his face against the table. 

"Are you trying to get stronger or something?" Caboose asked as Church continued groaning.  


Louder groaning.  


"You're not doing it loud enough. The louder you yell the stronger you get. I saw it on Lizard Cube Y."  


More face slamming against the table.  


"Pretty sure that's not how Kakacarrot beat Freezer."

Tucker laughed and got some food.  
_____________

Later that morning, Sarge gathered everyone in the living room.  
"Alright. So since there are now nine--"  


"Junior counts too." Tucker crossed his arms.  


"Fine. Since there are now TEN of us, we can afford to have more people go scouting and scavenging and all that other stuff that can get you killed. So Simmons, you, Lopez and Caboose get to stay here and watch the kid while the rest of us go look around."  


"What?! I'm not trusting Caboose with my kid!"  


"Okay, Tucker. Would you like to bring him and entrust him to the flesh eating undead?"  


".....No."  


"Then stop being a big baby and let's go."  


"Fiiiiiine."  


"Good. Any other complaints?"  


"Yes. Why the hell do I have to stay with two idiots and a five year old?" Lopez asked.  


"Of course you can make tacos, Lopez! But sadly, we don't have any of the needed ingredients. I'm sorry to crush your little Spanish dreams."  


".......That's one of the most racist things you've ever said to me."  


"But your people are good at taking care of children since you all have so many of them! So you'll be fine."  


"Nevermind. _That_ was the most racist thing you've ever said to me."  


"I'm sorry Lopez, but we have to go now." Sarge and the rest of his group grabbed their weapons and walked out.  


"......I hope they get eaten."  
_____________

"So Tucker. What's Flowers moping about?" Grif asked as they walked into an abandoned building.  


"Well you're the last person I expected to see through his constant smile." Tucker looked at him.  


"Yeah. I like people assuming that of me. That way not a lot is expected of me."  


"I like you."  


"Likewise."  


"Anyway, Flowers told Church, Caboose, and I not too long ago. When the zombie outbreak first started, he was with his group of buddies. They were this group called the Freelancers. Pretty badass from what Flowers said. But anyway, the point is, he got separated from them the day the outbreak happened. He's been looking for them ever since. He bumped into Church and Caboose about two months into his search, then Junior and I a week after that."  


"Wow. So he's been searching a whole year."  


"Yup. Plus, his boyfriend was one of the Freelancers. He's worried sick about him."  


"Well damn."  


"I know! And-"  


"If you two ladies are done chatting, we have supplies to look for." Sarge said, suddenly right behind them. 

Grif and Tucker jumped, whipping around. "Uh. How much did you hear?"  


"All of it."  


"Oh."  


"Well now I know why Flowers was looking all sad earlier."  


"Yeah, he does that sometimes."  


"All of that aside, you two need to get back to work." He walked out again. 

The two sighed. After looking around the building, they found some ammo, first aid supplies, and an Xbox One.  


"Holy shit. I am so bringing this back with us." Tucker said, grabbing the console, all of it's wires, the controllers and a few games, shoving them into his backpack.  


"Hell yeah." Grif grinned.  


"Wanna play some Peggle when we get back?"  


"Fuck. Yes."  
_____________

Church yawned rather loudly as he walked through an abandoned building with Flowers. They searched high and low for supplies, but couldn't find anything. But just as they finished looking in the second to last room of the place, they heard a crash and a thud. They ran into the last room, where the noise had come from, holding their guns and ready to shoot. "Who's there?" Church growled.  


"Don't shoot!" Somebody said from underneath a table.  


"Come out slowly and we won't."  


"Promise?"  


"Promise." Flowers smiled, though he still had a threatening air to him. 

The person slowly got out and stood up. They had messy dark hair, tan skin, and glasses. He held his hands in front of him, showing he meant no harm. 

"What the hell?"  


"What?" The man raised an eyebrow.  


"You don't have any weapons, yet you're alive in the zombie apocalypse."  


"Well I'm a pacifist. No violence for me! Plus. I don't even know how to use a gun."  


".........That only confuses me more."  


"Well maybe the fact that I'm a medic helps?"  


"Go on."  


"I trade medical services for protection, really."  


"Oh. Alright."  


"Name's Frank Dufresne."  


"Mm. You look more like a 'Doc'."  


"What? How?"  


"Glasses, you're a medic, stuff like that."  


"Uhhh."  


"I'm gonna call you Doc."  


"Alright, I guess."

Flowers and Church had lowered their guns. After some more talking, they decided to bring Doc along with them back to base. When everyone regrouped, Sarge immediately asked about Doc. Church explained, and Sarge instantly 'welcomed' Doc to the group. It was really just a slap on the back so hard everyone heard it. 

The walk back to base was pretty normal. Except for the fact that Donut was staring at Doc nonstop with a dorky grin on his face. The only ones who noticed were Grif and Tucker, and they had no idea what to make of it. They just concluded that it was an intensely gay stare.  
_____________

When the group got back to the base, things were complete chaos. Simmons was tied to a chair, Lopez was hanging upside down, his wrists tied together and his feet _duct taped_ to the ceiling, and Caboose and Junior were playing tic tac toe. 

"......What happened here?" Tucker asked.  


"OH THANK GOD YOU'RE BACK" Simmons shouted.  


"Like he asked. What happened here?" Grif asked as he walked over and untied his boyfriend.  


"Caboose and Junior just randomly decided to tie us up since we didn't wanna play with them!"  


"Junior. Is this true?" Tucker looked at Junior.  


".......Yes." Junior looked at his dad with a semi-guilty expression.  


"What do you say?"  


"I'm sorry." He looked at his feet.  


"Good. Now got to our room for time out."  


"How long do I have to?"  


"Twenty minutes."  


"Fiiiiiine." He walked off.  


"Uhm. Do I have time out too?" Caboose asked.  


"Caboose you're a fucking adult- you know what? Yes. You do have time out. Go to your room for twenty five minutes." Church sighed.  


"Okay!" Caboose did as he was told.  


".......Did you just tell an adult he has time out?" Doc asked.  


"You'll understand when you know Caboose better."  


"Yeah. I've only known him for about twenty four hours and I understand." Donut said.  


"If you say so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's favorite purple medic is here! Yayyyy! -sets a party popper off- And we have yet another anime reference by Caboose. Obviously, Lizard Cube Y is Caboose's version of Dragon Ball Z, where whoever screams the loudest wins. Kakacarrot is Kakarot, AKA Goku's real name, BTW. And Freezer is obviously Freiza. Anyway, I felt like including the little Peggle thing in there because Geoff Ramsey, (Grif's voice actor and my role model/favorite person) along with his wife Griffon and buddy Gavin Free, LOVE Peggle. Go watch them play it. It's beautiful.


	3. Tex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If the title of the chapter didn't make this obvious, Tex shows up. And Church isn't very happy about it.

Church twisted and turned in his bed, holding the sides of his head tightly. He kicked the sheets off the bed. "No... Don't.... Don't leave..." He muttered in his sleep. Suddenly, he sat up in bed as fast as he could panting. He looked around before letting out a sigh of relief. He ran a hand through his hair before getting out of bed and walking to the kitchen. 

Church made himself some coffee and sat down, drinking it. He set the mug down and put his hands in his face. "Fuck..... I haven't had that dream in awhile...."

"Haven't had what dream in awhile?" Caboose asked from behind him. 

Church jumped, nearly knocking his coffee mug off the table. He whipped around and looked at Caboose. "Caboose! Mother of fuck- don't sneak up on me!"  


"Sorry Church!" Caboose smiled.  


Church just sighed tiredly and turned back around. Caboose sat next to him.  


"So what was your dream about?" Caboose asked.  


"I..... I don't wanna talk about it."  


"Oh, okay."

Church continued drinking his coffee as Caboose grabbed some breakfast.  
_____________

"Alright everyone! It's time to go look for supplies again." Sarge said after gathering everyone in the living room.  


"Oh my GOD, Sarge. Why do we do this every day?" Grif asked.  


"Because we need all the supplies we can get."  


"What happens when the surrounding areas run out of supplies to scavenge?" Lopez looked at Sarge.  


"How helpful of you to volunteer, Lopez!"  


"I swear to-- actually, yeah, I wanna go. Better than being duct taped to the ceiling again." He glared at Junior, who grinned at him.  


"Anyway, Church and Doc, you stay here with Junior." Sarge looked at the cobalt and purple clad men.  


"Fine." Church said with a glance at Junior.  


Doc nodded. 

After Sarge and the others left, Church went to his room, leaving Doc to watch Junior. He laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Sighing, he turned onto his side and messed with the corners of the blanket. 

Several hours went by. The only thing Church did within that time was walk around the base, check up on all the barricades they had put up for extra measure, and go back to his room. He did this a couple times out of sheer boredom. When the others returned, Church had been sitting in his room and messing with his phone. 

He decided to leave his room and go see what they had brought back. But once he walked into the living room, he froze. It was her. She was talking with Caboose, smiling and acting as if she was completely innocent. Then, she turned to look at Church. And she stopped smiling.  
_____________

Tex looked at Church, and her smile went away. She stared at his face. His expression was one of fear, confusion, but most of all, anger. Tex put a hand on her hip and smirked. "What's the matter, Church? Didn't you miss me?"  


"MISS YOU? MISS YOU? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Church shouted. 

Everyone looked from Tex to Church and back. "Uh, you know each other?" Tucker asked.  


"Yeah. We were actually dating for awhile. I dumped him though." Tex laughed.  


"That's it? That's why he's so pissy?"  


"Well, not exactly-"  


"I'm pissy because after dumping me, Tex here stole everything I owned, including the only gun I had to defend myself with against zombies, and ran off!" Church yelled.  


"Church, just calm-"  


"NO. I COULD'VE DIED, TEX."  


"I'm sorry."  


"Oh, you're SORRY, Tex? Well that fixes EVERYTHING." Church snarled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  


"Church-"  


Church stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him. Tex sighed. 

"Well. That went well." Tucker said.  


"No it didn't Tucker. Man you're stupid." Caboose looked at him.  


Tucker facepalmed.  
_____________

Church punched his pillow. He'd been doing this for the past thirty minutes. He heard a knock at the door, and with a sigh, stopped punching. "Who is it?" He asked irritably.  


"It's Caboose."  


"....Come in." 

Caboose opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind him. He sat next to Church. "Are you okay Church?"  


"No." Church growled and crossed his arms.  


"Is it because Texas left you alone?"  


"No. It's because she took all my stuff and I nearly died!"  


".....I don't think that's it, Church."  


"It is! She left me for dead and I-"  


"I don't think that's why you're upset."  


"Then what, the HELL, do you think I'm mad about Caboose?!?"  


"I don't think you're mad. I think you're lonely."

Church's eyes went wide and he stared at Caboose. 

"You always seemed lonely, Church. I could tell when I met you. You always told me to be quiet or to leave you alone, but I think you didn't mean it."  


"I....."  


"Because you're really just sad. Because someone you loved left you alone. And that's not nice. You're heartbroken."  


Church looked down.  


"I was lonely too."  


He looked up at him. "What?"  


"I was lonely. Before I met you, Church. But you accepted me and stayed with me and made me feel good because you were my friend and you cared about me. That's why you're my best friend." He hugged Church and the smaller man flinched.  


"And best friends don't leave each other. I'd never leave you, Church." Caboose said with a smile.

Church sat there in Caboose's embrace, the words 'best friend' echoing in his mind. He slowly hugged back. "...Thanks."  


"You're welcome best friend."  
_____________

Tex sat on the couch in the living room, playing with her hands. All she could think about was how she had fucked up with Church. She knew he didn't deserve it. 

"Hey."

Tex looked up to see Church. This surprised her, and she instantly stood up. "Hey, Church. I'm. I'm really sorry. I was being a bitch, and-" She was interrupted by Church holding his hand up.  


"I'm not here for your sappy apology speech. I know you're sorry. Let's just leave it at that."  


"So you. Forgive me?"  


"You could say that. But don't get me wrong. I'm still bitter as fuck. Don't think that we're all buddy buddy now."  


"Oh. Well. Thanks?"  


"You're welcome." He walked away. 

Tex stared after him. Was she on drugs? Or did Church just. Forgive her?  
_____________

A week went by since then. Church was still pissy with Tex, but not to the point where he yelled and ran off to his room again. Everyone was actually getting along with Tex to a reasonable point. Reasonable meaning she didn't want to punch them in the dick. Well, she did punch Grif in the balls once to wake him up. From then on Tex and Sarge got along swimmingly.

Flowers and Tex got along especially well since they were both from the Freelancer group Flowers had talked about. When she first saw him, Tex had called him Florida. That led to no one knowing whether to call him Flowers or Florida, but in the end, they decided to stick with calling him Florida.

Overall, things were going pretty well for the group. 

Sarge walked into the living room, where Grif and Tucker were playing on the X-Box. "Grif! Tucker! Get off your asses, because it's time for another scouting trip."  


Grif groaned. "When ISN'T it time for a scouting trip?"  


"And why is it that you always bring us every single damn time?" Tucker crossed his arms.  


"Because I know that you'll just slack off if you stay." Sarge said.  


"I prefer to call it taking it easy." Grif shrugged.  


"I don't care what you call it! It's slacking off in my book, therefore you're coming with me!"  


"Uuuuuugh."  


"Fine. Whatever you say, Sergeant Hard-ass." Tucker rolled his eyes.  


Sarge walked out of the room. 

After getting ready, the scouting group, which consisted of everyone but Lopez and Junior, took off. They spent an hour looking around before Grif suddenly shouted for everyone to go to him. 

"Grif! Is something wrong?!" Simmons asked as he ran over.  


"Nothings wrong, Simmons, so don't get your panties in a bunch." Grif laughed.  


Simmons glared at Grif and crossed his arms.  


"Then what's up?" Tucker asked.  


"I found something." Grif said, yanking a tarp off of a shiny red jeep.  


"Who the hell leaves a perfectly good jeep lying around?!" Sarge shouted.  


"Dead people." Church commented.  


"Makes sense."  


"Are the keys in there?" Tex asked.  


Grif answered her question by holding the keys up and twirling them around.  


"Sweet."  


"Yup. And since I found this bad boy, I get to drive it."  


"And why's that?" Sarge crossed his arms.  


"First come first serve. I win."  


Sarge muttered something under his breath, but nodded.

Everyone either rode back in the jeep with Grif or followed on foot. When they got into the base, they saw Junior duct taped to a chair with his wrists, forearms, ankles and knees taped together. Lopez was sitting in a chair next to Junior's, reading a manual of some sort. 

"Lopez! What did you do to Junior?!" Tucker shouted, running over and taking the tape off of Junior.  


"He was trying to mess with my tools." Lopez said in a monotone, obviously not caring.  


"Lopez, just because Junior ate all the Oreos doesn't mean you get to tie him up." Sarge said.  


"He did WHAT?!" Grif shouted before sprinting off.  


"He was touching my stuff. Stop trying to pretend you understand me, Sarge." Lopez rolled his eyes, turning the page.  


"What do pretzels have to do with this?" Sarge asked.  


"That's it. I'm leaving." Lopez said, getting up and walking to the garage. He had obviously noticed the jeep, because he shut the door and everyone could hear him practically giggling with excitement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how short this is and how it took so long to update this fanfic! I've been finishing up school stuff, but now since it's summer vacation, I'll have lots of time to write! So look out for more chapters! :)


	4. A Warthog, A Dead Cat, & Another Hawaiian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a LONG AS FUCK hiatus, Life & Death continues! Some of the party members go on a little field trip, Grif deals with Sarge's shit, and the party increases by 1.

Grif stretched out over the jeep, yawning. He had just had a long debate with Sarge over what to call the jeep. Sarge insisted it looked like a warthog, while Grif thought it looked more like a puma. Sarge said that a puma was just a made up animal, which really confused him and the others. Then Grif once again pulled the 'I found it' card, and so, the jeep was called the puma.

Grif pulled out his wallet and looked at a picture he had always kept with him. It was a photo of him and his sister, Kaikaina. He and Kai grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and due to certain circumstances, Grif had to raise his sister. When Kai was 18 and old enough to take care of herself, Grif decided to move to Texas. Which was a really shitty idea. A week after he moved into a new apartment, the fucking apocalypse happened. 

Grif sighed as he thought about his sister. Was she okay? Did the zombie infection reach Hawaii? Was she dead? All of the questions he had stayed in his head no matter how much he tried to distract himself. He was really worried about his little sis. 

When Grif heard Sarge yell to everyone in the base about going to look for more stuff, he rolled his eyes, groaned, and got up. Walking into the living room, he sat next to Simmons on the couch and zoned out as their 'leader' named the people who would be going. He was obviously gonna be picked, since Sarge loved putting him through hell, so he wasn't at all worried about missing out on any details. 

Though once again, that was a shitty idea.  
_____________

"WE'RE GOING TO ZOMBIE FUCKING CENTRAL?!" Grif screamed internally and externally.  
  
"Uh, yeah. Weren't you listening earlier?" Church raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Well. No."  
  
"God dammit Grif! That's the millionth time you've ignored my brilliant briefings!" Sarge crossed his arms disapprovingly.  
  
"I don't care about your briefings! I care about your reasoning for going back to Austin! Last I checked, that's where at least a MILLION zombies are!"  
  
"We're going there because Lopez used to live there and he's running out of supplies that he needs in case something goes wrong with YOUR boyfriend's replacement limbs." Tex informed him. 

Grif sighed in annoyance before nodding and starting to drive again. The group was surprisingly quiet, considering Caboose was with them, but that was probably because Church gave him a cookie. 

They were taking the jeep because one, it was quicker, two, it could carry more, and three, because they needed to refuel it anyway. Hence the stop at an abandoned gas station. 

Grif let his mind wander as he drove. Driving was second nature for him, so he could snap right into focusing again once needed. He thought about how it was kind of awkward having Church and Tex in the same jeep since they used to be dating. The last thing they needed was one of Church's episodes. It only happened once, but screaming tended to attract zombies. The other thing on his mind was the fact that they were going to a city filled with said zombies. Sure, it was to get stuff they needed, but the 'mission' as Sarge called it, would require stealth. And stealth wasn't exactly one of Grif's skills. Just because all the zombies were blind didn't mean they couldn't hear. And according to Tucker, who had had quite a few run-ins the the undead, they had wicked hearing. And that didn't make Grif feel any better.  
_____________

"Is that everything?" Grif asked the others as they loaded some stuff into the jeep. They had parked in Lopez's garage and instantly began loading stuff up.  
  
"Yeah. Just one problem." Church replied.  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's no way we'll be able to fit all of this stuff in the jeep."  
  
"Then just leave some."  
  
"We're not leaving anything. Well, except the puma." Sarge grinned.  
  
"WHAT?!" Grif whisper yelled.  
  
"Yup. I found a truck. And I'm calling it the warthog."  
  
"But it doesn't even-"  
  
"Finders keepers, Grif."  
  
"But I-"  
  
"My truck."  
  
"Isn't it technically Lopez's truck since we found it here?" Tex asked.  
  
"Nope! It's mine!" A cheery voice said from the garage's doorway. 

Everyone turned around to look at the person, and Grif's eyes widened.  
  
"KAI?!"  
_____________

Grif stared at his sister who gasped and ran over to him. "Hey Dex! How are ya?!"  
  
"HOW AM I? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BACK HOME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Grif shouted.  
  
"Oh. Well I got bored like four days after you left, so I took a plane out to see you! Only by the time I managed to book a flight and get here, zombies were everywhere! And then I had to find a place to stay, and I met these two cute girls. One had a lisp or something and the other liked playing volleyball. That's all I remember about them though! And then we got separated, and then I nearly died, and then I found this place! Been living here about three months. I found a phone!" She held up an iPhone.  
  
".....Kai..... Oh my fucking god."  
  
"What? You have an iPhone too."  
  
Grif facepalmed. 

He was about to say more, but was interrupted by multiple things. Sarge throwing the last of the stuff into the back of the truck, zombies banging on the garage door, Tex practically throwing him and Kai into the back of the truck like they weighed nothing, and Church and Caboose getting into the truck with Tex and Sarge. The next thing they knew, Sarge had opened the door, ran over some zombies, and sped off down the road. 

Grif and Kai kept hitting the sides of the truck as Sarge turned around sharp corners at a speed that had to be at least fifty over the speed limit. Grif nearly had a heart attack when they went over a speed bump, getting some serious air. Kai actually hit her head on the back window so hard that Grif heard it, and Church and Caboose turned around to look. 

"You okay?" Grif asked as the wind whipped through their hair.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine! This is fun!" Kai grinned, rubbing the back of her head.  
  
"I guess so, but why the hell did you just randomly come to Austin?!"  
  
"I felt like it! Also I heard that there were hot people here!"  
  
"Are you sure you didn't hear that Austin is hot?"  
  
"Oh, well I thought that Austin was just a hot guy who lived in Texas!"  
  
"........"  
_____________

Lopez stared at Sarge, who was grinning proudly. As soon as Sarge had pulled Lopez's truck into the garage, said vehicle covered in zombie blood and dirt, Lopez felt like he was dying inside. 

"Hey Lopez! Like my new ride?" Sarge asked.  
  
"That's my truck. And you got blood and dirt all over it." Lopez said in disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, I know it's a great truck. Maybe I could take you for a ride sometime."  
  
"And maybe I could run you over with MY truck."  
  
"Alright, we'll go driving together tomorrow afternoon!"  
  
"No."  
  
"Also, this little lady was living in your house. Apparently she's Grif's sister!"  
  
"What."  
  
"Hi! Sorry about your cat." Kai said, smiling as she got out of the back.  
  
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CAT"  
  
"I didn't know he was in the washing machine."  
  
"YOU DROWNED SOCKS?!?"  
  
"I just really needed to wash my tank top."  
  
"JUST TO CLEAN YOUR STUPID TANK TOP?!?"  
  
"I tried burying him, but I think the zombies got to his corpse."

Lopez took a deep breath in, flipped everyone in the room off, and promptly shoved them out of the garage and locked the door behind them.  
_____________

"I think he took that rather well." Kai nodded.  
  
"Sure, Kaikaina. That's why he flipped us off and shoved us out the door." Church said.  
  
"Yeah I'm gonna go take a nap now. You guys are fucking annoying." Grif walked away. 

After Grif left, Sarge decided to introduce Kai to everyone. Kai's introduction was followed by a horrible pick up line from Tucker, a painfully cheerful greeting from Florida, and an awkward hello from Simmons. After that, Florida went to his room, and Tex raised an eyebrow before following her friend. 

Everybody else started talking with Kai, asking about how she got to America, embarrassing stories from Grif's childhood (which to everyone's dismay, Kai forgot), and whether or not she was single. 

Later, when Lopez was done mourning his cat, but still hating everyone's guts, the man walked into the living room and dragged Simmons to the garage to do some maintenance on his artificial limbs.  
_____________

"So uh. Kai killed your cat, huh?" Simmons asked Lopez as the man worked on his leg.  
  
All he got was an irritated nod.  
  
"Sorry about that. Everybody seems to be giving you crap lately."  
  
Lopez's normally aggravated looking expression softened. Slightly.  
  
"Uhm. I know I can't understand you, but maybe sometimes, if you're annoyed, you could just rant to me, and I'll just nod and agree with you?"  
  
Lopez looked up and stared directly at Simmons, who broke into a cold sweat. After an awkward minute of silent staring, the man nodded before resuming his work.  
  
"Cool. Thanks for you know. Giving me new limbs and all."  
  
Lopez nodded, and seemed to be smiling a bit. Just a bit, though. 

After Lopez finished fixing up Simmons' arm and leg, he busied himself with cleaning his truck. Simmons decided to leave, since working on vehicles seemed to distract Lopez to the point of being happy. 

When Simmons walked into the living room, Tex was sitting on the couch by herself, looking through a magazine of some sort. If he had to guess, Simmons would say it was a weapons catalog. Tex noticed Simmons' presence, and looked up from what she was reading.  
  
"Hey there."  
  
"Oh. Hey, Tex. What're you reading?" Simmons asked.  
  
"Ah, just some random magazine I found on the coffee table. Sarge has a bunch of these lying all over the place."  
  
"Really? I never noticed."  
  
"Maybe it's because you're always staring at your boyfriend." Tex chuckled, turning to the next page.  
  
Simmons couldn't confirm or deny what Tex said as his face turned a shade of pink. He just shook his head and sat down. "So uh. I noticed you followed Florida into his room earlier. What was that about?"  
  
Tex glanced at him curiously, as if she were deciding whether or not she could trust him with that information. She then looked back at the page. "Sorry. I'd tell ya, but I don't know you well enough yet. Maybe Florida'll tell you sometime."  
  
"Uh. Okay? I don't understand but whatever."  
  
"What don't you understand?"  
  
"Why you two are so secretive."  
  
Tex sighed in annoyance and set the magazine on the coffee table, looking at Simmons. "Simmons, I need you to listen to me. Everybody around here has something they don't wanna talk about. Something that they're either scared of catching up to them, something they regret, or something that just makes them depressed. And that's a fact."  
  
"Oh really? Even the cheery people like Donut and Caboose? Or what about Sarge? Ooh, maybe Doc has some mysterious secret that no one needs to know about." Simmons said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.  
  
"I'm sure they do, Simmons. And trust me when I say that if you wanna keep everyone's respect, you'll fuck off and not make fun of anything anyone's been through. Florida and I have had our fair share of shit because of what our little group got into. That's all you need to know." And with that, Tex stood up and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, I'm back! Sorry if it seemed like I disappeared off the face of the earth or something. I've just been lazy because you know. Summer vacation. Also I moved! But anyway, expect more frequent updates from this writer, because I've finally got more ideas for Life & Death, Clueless, and possibly some new fanfics. (; And you'll probably get a Clueless update today or tomorrow. I also apologize for the short chapter. I'll try to make the next one longer.


End file.
